Remote auditing is increasingly becoming a preferred method for conducting cybersecurity assessments. Remote audits are typically more convenient and can help organizations evaluate their security posture much faster than traditional audits. Read on to learn more about how you can conduct virtual audits.
Virtual auditing is a fast and reliable cybersecurity testing tool from which your organization can benefit. To understand how it works and how it can benefit your organization, we will provide:
Whether you are new to remote auditing or looking to optimize current audits, partnering with a managed security services provider (MSSP) will help you achieve a high audit ROI.
Cybersecurity audits evaluate the security posture of an organization’s cybersecurity program relative to a defined set of assessment criteria. Although cybersecurity audits are traditionally conducted on-site, remote auditing takes the same processes for on-site audits and tailors them to a virtual audit setting. But, just like on-site audits, virtual audits are meant to be independent, unbiased assessments of your security controls and may be conducted internally or externally.
Remote auditing , unlike on-site auditing, provides greater flexibility for assessments. The need for remote audits was more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, as more organizations looked to virtual auditing to assess their security controls and achieve robust security assurance standards in the midst of quarantine and work-from-home mandates.
You may need to conduct remote audits for several reasons:
Some of the widely applicable regulatory standards that offer the option to audit remotely are:
Conducting remote audits can be just as effective for evaluating your cybersecurity controls as on-site audits. However, you need to assess your business and compliance environment to determine that the remote auditing will comprehensively assess your security controls.
Whether they are conducted on-site or remotely, audits will point out the gaps in the security controls implemented by your organization and help you identify areas needing optimization.
According to ISACA, conducting audits of your cybersecurity infrastructure will help you:
Most crucially, security audits should be treated as ongoing processes. Cybersecurity systems are consistently evolving and their effectiveness must be routinely evaluated.
For both remote and on-site audits, it is critical to identify the components in your cybersecurity infrastructure you would like to assess for vulnerabilities. Audits evaluate vulnerabilities in:
In some cases, on-site audits might be more feasible than remote audits.
However, it is critical to evaluate the scope of a remote or on-site audit with an experienced MSSP , who can advise on the most applicable audit type for your cybersecurity needs.
Audits serve as the primary means of assessing an organization’s compliance with regulatory standards. Although most regulatory standards require on-site audits, some frameworks provide the option for organizations to remotely audit their cybersecurity controls.
For example, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) framework allows organizations to conduct remote audits when on-site testing is not feasible. However, organizations participating in PCI DSS remote audits must follow the framework’s virtual audit guidelines , which are critical to developing a virtual audit checklist.
The PCI DSS framework helps organizations safeguard cardholder data (CHD). Organizations that store, transmit, or process CHD are required to comply with the 12 PCI DSS Requirements :
Compliance with the PCI DSS Requirements is critical to mitigating data breaches that can compromise CHD and result in significant legal, financial, and reputational consequences.
Before considering remote audits of their PCI DSS compliance, organizations must conduct feasibility assessments to ensure that remote auditing tools that will meet testing objectives.
Once an organization has determined that it is not feasible to conduct on-site testing of its cybersecurity controls, it must work with a Security Assessor to identify and implement remote audit best practices. Feasibility assessments can differ but are typically conducted via:
Per the PCI DSS, virtual audits should only be conducted if a feasibility analysis finds that remote auditing is the most effective way to assess an organization’s security controls.
Conducting a comprehensive and informative feasibility analysis requires an understanding of the various assessment criteria, including:
For any remote audit, conducting a feasibility assessment will help ensure that all parties involved in the audit are well-prepared for it.
Working with a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), an organization should conduct a remote audit feasibility assessment based on the following criteria:
Once a virtual audit feasibility assessment is conducted, an organization can then make the following conclusions:
The outcomes of a remote audit feasibility assessment will then determine the best possible route for conducting an audit. Remote audits may not always be effective and provide the level of security assurance necessary for a security assessor to evaluate an organization’s PCI DSS compliance. Furthermore, both security assessors and the entities being audited should work together to ensure that the remote testing methods are working effectively.
When planning for a remote audit, the assessor conducting the audit and the entity being audited must engage in open communication throughout the assessment to achieve a high audit ROI. Assessors and entities should discuss each step of the remote audit, agreeing on:
Organizations must also confirm that they have met all the requirements necessary for PCI DSS compliance before starting the remote audit.
Although virtual audits are similar to those conducted on-site, remote auditing relies heavily on virtual audit tools to optimize the effectiveness of remote audits. The best such tools will:
When it comes to deciding which remote auditing tools will work best for an assessment, organizations and security assessors should agree upon:
It is critical to select the right tools for remote audits to ensure that the outcomes of audits are reliable and accurate.
Virtual audit tools that are typically used for PCI DSS remote auditing include:
Working with a P CI security assessor will help organizations prepare for and conduct remote audits effectively. Beyond PCI compliance audits, a leading MSSP will provide security audit services to help organizations achieve desired security assurance via remote or on-site audits.
Remote auditing can be leveraged to evaluate the effectiveness of your security controls, much like on-site audits. Partnering with an MSSP will help you get the most value out of remote audits to keep your security posture up-to-date with industry and regulatory standards.
Contact RSI Security today to learn more and get started with virtual audits!
